


Ascension

by Junipher



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-21 12:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11357316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junipher/pseuds/Junipher
Summary: An original fantasy work (only summarized at the moment).





	1. Chapter 1

In the beginning, Alex and Mara had really thought that doing this would be something like getting 100% on their exams.

**

_Alex and Mara, fierce rivals to be the best in their academy, are the only ones who have inherited sky-based magic._

_One day, they are called into a meeting with the king and the headmaster of the academy. They are told that a seer has seen that a swarm of loqusts is coming. The only thing that can prevent thousands of people from dying is the mirror of Paseth, which was lost in the Black Forest many years ago. It can only be retrieved by a mage with the sky basis. They are to head immediately for the Black Forest, accompanied by a senior mage (who will teach them the more advanced magicks necessary to retrieve the mirror) and Kyoto, a servant of the king. Along the way, they must visit Pax, a scholar and old friend of the king who can give them more precise information on the mirror's location._

**

Mara remembered the time she had heard Alex's voice through his closed door. It was so different from any voice she had ever heard from him. He was speaking his regional tongue, so she couldn't understand the words, but she remembered that his voice had been... shaking. He sounded like a child reaching out for the hand of his mother only to find himself lost in a crowd of indifferent faces.

It didn't make her go any easier on him the next time they had to spar each other.

**

_The group of four journeys towards the Black Forest, crossing through towns and taverns along the way._

**

Emirsen was not impressed. "I don't see you two sweating," she said, in a tone that seemed to say, _Why am I bothering with you two?_ It was not a tone that they had ever heard from a teacher before.

"You two are talented... but you need to learn this about ten times as fast as any other apprentice. If you approach it with your current attitude, then I guarantee you will fail."

**

_Bandits attack them. Alex and Mara are able to defeat them with their magic._

**

Mara and Alex shared a momentary smile. Their acrimony was briefly forgotten in the rush of having had to depend on each other for their lives.

**

_They visit Pax. Unbeknownst to the king, Pax's loyalty to him has frayed. In their meeting, Pax drops hints that they have been misinformed as to the nature of their quest._

**

Mara looked over at Emirsen's sleeping figure. During their whole journey, the woman had been like a rock that she knew without turning to look would be there, and she hated to suspect her now. But she didn't know whether to confide her and Alex's suspicions in her. How much did she know? Was she a perpetrator in the fraud?

And as for Kyoto... the man's impeccable service and the bitterness in his eyes, like a lake frozen all the way through, made her back hairs stand on end.

**

_Alex and Mara discover that the coming of the loqusts coincides with the opening of a rift between two dimensions. The mirror can be used either to dispel the loqusts, or to transport the user to the other dimension. The king, driven above all by thirst for knowledge, intends to use the mirror to Ascend to the other dimension, of which very little is known. He hopes that he might be able to discover something useful in the other dimension, and perhaps return himself home to completely revolutionize life in his home dimension (though all of this is very uncertain, and thousands of people will die)._

**

Kyoto laughed, played with the figure in his hand. He wasn't even looking at Mara. "You think this is about _you_?"

Mara flushed deep-red.

"No," she said finally. "I think this is about… Mina."

Kyoto's eyes cut over to her like glass. They looked shell-shocked. "What did you say?"

Mara pressed her advantage. "You cared for her, didn't you?"

But there was something about this that was all wrong. "How do you know about Mina?"

Kyoto looked more frightened than she had ever seen him… and more coiled, more lethal.

Before she could decide how to reply, Kyoto was speaking again. "Look, I'll do anything you want." He hesitated, and then deliberately bowed his head, his tone soft. "Just leave Mina alone, okay? If anything happens to her, she'll… I'll… Please. I'll do what you want." His voice was meek.

Mara was terrified. She had a feeling that unless she somehow managed to convince Kyoto that she meant no harm, she had just signed her own death warrant.

**

_The group wavers on how to proceed. Alex is tempted to Ascend himself._

**

"We brought you here as a _sacrifice?_ " Alex yelped, horrified.

Kyoto's voice gentled. "You have to believe in yourself, Alex. You'll be able to do it. I know you will."

"N-no-- that's not the  _problem_ \--" Alex's voice was shaking in indignant rage. "How the hell are we even going to make it back without you?"

Kyoto looked at him, uncomprehending. "You have to be ready to replace your tools when they're broken."

"I'm sorry, I misspoke. My problem is-- that I can't _kill_ you!"

**

_In the end, they retrieve the mirror, but their plan goes slightly awry. The mirror is used, someone sacrifices their life, and someone else is forcibly thrown into the other dimension._


	2. Chapter 2

"Stop-- Stop touching me!"

Kyoto's hands paused in his checking of Alex's body for injuries.

"I just-- just need a minute..." Alex bit out, breathing heavily. He prayed that Kyoto wouldn't look down, prayed that his red-tinged cheeks hadn't already given him away.

But he saw the other man's eyes make a quick sweep of his body, taking in the situation.

"I'm sorry," Alex said, blushing furiously and trying not to look at Kyoto. "It's just that you're..." _Really attractive_ , he completed in his head.

Kyoto sat back on his knees. "I can take care of that for you," he offered.

" _What?_ "

"My orders were to obey you and Mara," he said, his tone neutral.

"But-- Surely you don't have to--"

Something in Kyoto's expression stopped him. "Do you mean... the king...?" Alex's mouth was working ahead of his brain. "How _could_ he..."

Kyoto smiled sardonically. "The king has given me far more than I've ever given him."


	3. Chapter 3

Kyoto's expression was a drowned smile in the sun.


	4. Chapter 4

Mara gulped. "I -- I don't understand," she said. She spoke haltingly. "If he wanted to be a good king -- why did he have to do all of this to you? Why couldn't he just _trust_ you?"

Kyoto gave her a tight smile. "The king is not the kind of person who can trust."


End file.
